Living for Jesus…dealing with Breast Cancer and Life

Main menu

Post navigation

Wounds

What are wounds? When most of us think about them we probably think of physical wounds. We think of the time we fell off our bike and scraped our knee or cut our hand while cooking. Wounds HURT. They compromise the integrity of our skin defense and allow bacteria in. They typically require action on our part to clean them and bandage them to prevent infection…but sometimes they become infected despite our best efforts.

Emotional wounds are harder to recognize and even harder to treat. We all have them. Some have more than others. They are the product of hearts interacting in an imperfect world. We can wound people even when we don’t mean to. We can especially wound people when we mean to. We can have wounds from our childhood and family or previous relationships…we can inflict them on ourselves with our choices. They can be caused by an action or a lack of action. A harsh word or a lack of love and acceptance. They are painful places in our heart that can drive choices without realizing it. They ache. They allow us to believe lies about ourselves and look for quick fixes. Our wounds might tell us we will never be loved and therefore we will seek out unfullfilling relationships to fill a void. Our wounds might tell us we will never be good enough and therefore we are always striving for perfection or not trying at all. Our wounds might tell us we will never succeed and therefore we never try accomplish anything because we are afraid of failing. Wounds feed addictions and insecurities. They can cause us to react in ways we don’t recognize.

The danger with emotional wounds is when you don’t know you have them. They have a lot less power when you can name them, treat them and actively fight against them. I have an insecurity every time I push the publish button on this blog. What if people don’t like what I write? What if it’s not good enough? I have a wound around perfection = acceptance. And I counter those questions with…Do I like what I wrote? Yes. Is it perfect? No. Am I happy with it? Meh..Yes? Good enough…PUBLISH. In the end who cares if no one likes it. Of course affirmation is nice but it shouldn’t drive my choices. I have to choose to be myself regardless. If i didn’t realize that wound existed I may never have started this blog because I was paralyzed by what people thought. Aren’t you guys lucky? 😉 Guys? You there? Just Kidding.

God tells us he is the healer of the broken hearted and wounded. When we are insecure in ourselves we can be secure in Him. Quick fixes wont work. But God promises he will heal us if we only ask…not always in the way we expect but always in the way that we need.

Related

22 thoughts on “Wounds”

This post reminds me of Henri J.M. Nouwen’s book, ‘Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World’. Paraphrased these are Nouwen’s thoughts: “We are all wounded and in silence and prayer we can quelch the many voices that questions our goodness and trust that we will hear the voice calling us beloved.”

May we be quiet today and hear the small still voice that will heal our wounds.

Wow Lynnra, that second Paragraph really spoke to me, it was right on. You really nailed it.
I know that we do not know each other well, but want you to know that I have kept you in my thoughts a lot this past year. You are a very strong and beautiful woman and I admire you greatly.

I am a ware of the fact that the fear always pulls down, in all aspects and any choice needs to be made, but reading it today in the blog gave me the opportunity for to stop and check with myself whether I still leading my fears or let them lead me, thanks for the reminder and for the moment.
I.H

Love this- am taking a class at Bethany that is pretty much evaluating our wounds and giving them up to God- it is so challenging!!! Especially realizing their are some we/I choose to hold on to… I appreciate your blog so much 🙂

Wow! I didn’t realize that Bethany was teaching a class like that…good for them. Yes, CHOOSING to address and let go of wounds takes a huge amount of awareness and humility. But all God wants is to heal those places because that’s where Satan’s lies can have the most impact. Excited to see you guys in December. xx L

I’m here Lay :). And yes, you’re a good writer. I appreciate this post. The analogy between physical and emotional wounds is a powerful one, and you depict its mysterious but powerful form well. Thanks as always for sharing.

I have been thinking a lot about wounds this week…primarily because I accidentally gave myself a pretty bad cut. I will write more about it on Wednesday but thought it was nice to reblog a post from this past fall.
Happy Monday,
Lynnea

This is lovely Lynnea, so honest and REAL. Speaks to me too – few emotional wounds of my own expressed in my ‘Judgement and Walking …’ post. And I think people respond precisely to that honesty, because so many of us don’t dare (I have been blessed for daring, I hope you are too.) I think that writing is cathartic and yes, it is nice to be recognised, but God hears even if others don’t.

Thank you. One thing this season has stripped me of is any desire for pretense…and I am so thankful. I am free to be who God wants me to be without being afraid of what people think. I am truly blessed. Sometimes I am surprised amidst a season where so many things have been taken I can only think about what I have gained. And that is not some overly spiritual mumbo jumbo but really the product of continuing to fight for love and forgiveness. xx L